Creating Timeless Traditions With C&H Sugar

Holiday Recipes

It is with great anticipation that we look toward the Fall Holidays – those accelerated days and nights of bustling activity between Halloween and the New Year.

Usually, Halloween means candy purchased at the store rather than the personal touch of a home-baked treat. This year, however, there is an added sense of somberness as we cherish loved ones more than ever. So, for your own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and for favorite little neighbors, there is nothing like the gift of something home-baked to remind them how special they are to you.

Think how festive treats like pumpkin-shaped Crisp Cookie Cutouts, Caramel Apples, Popcorn Balls, Black Cat Cake, or Ghostly Brownies are for children! For the adults, an offer of a warm Apple Crisp with Hot Spiced Punch is perfect on a cool autumn night when a short respite from trick or treating with excited children is so appreciated. Such a treat is more than just a ‘neighborly nicety.’

Thanksgiving, the day that stands out among all culinary feast days, is next. From the appetizers to a scrumptious Cold Pumpkin Soufflé, it is the day where food commands center stage. Children think a marvelous feast like this miraculously appears. However, those in the kitchen know the truth about all the hours of preparation required to make this meal happen. To make it a day enjoyed to its fullest by everyone – including the cook – try some make-ahead foods, like Candied Sweet Potatoes, Mint or Cranberry Jelly, Pumpkin Bread, Cocoa Apple Cake, or Chocolate Fudge Pudding Cake .

As December, “the month of traditions” dawns, the preparations become more hectic. A hot liquid treat helps to slow the pace so we can reflect on our blessings. While decorating, take a well-deserved break with family or friends over Hot Buttered Rum.

Start your baking early with make-ahead treats such as Gingerbread Cookies, Cut-Out Cookies, Golden Thumbprint Cookies, Hazelnut Amaretto Balls, Sugared Walnuts and Macadamia Nut Brittle. Throughout the season, your visitors will delight in this wonderful array of holiday cheer, and your kitchen will soon become the touchstone for gatherings of family and friends.

Top off your Christmas dinner with an extra special dessert to share. Although this can be a challenge for even the most experienced baker, it doesn’t need to be a stressful undertaking. A Chocolate Cream Roll isn’t very time-consuming and the visual appeal and delicious flavor defy its easy preparation. Place a Chocolate Cream Roll on a festive plate and toss a wooden log on the fire, and you’ll soon rekindle the magical days and nights of Christmas you remember from childhood.

This year will truly be a time of reflection and anticipation. We hope you gather with loving family and close friends to bring in another year as the holidays – those accelerated days and nights between Halloween and New Year – end once again. Our wish to you this season is that your holiday traditions, whether started long ago or just this year, become a part of your treasured past.

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C&H Sugar Tips and Tools: Cookie Secrets

Preparing Dough

Follow the recipe directions carefully.

For rolled cookies, handle dough gently. To avoid a "tough" dough, add the smallest amount of flour possible to the rolling pin or counter when rolling, and don't roll more than necessary.

For sliced or cutout cookies, be sure you chill the dough until it's firm enough to handle (about 2 hours). If you immediately bake dough that’s supposed to be chilled, it will spread.

Don’t melt butter or margarine if your recipe calls for softened butter or margarine. This may result in dough that spreads when it’s baked, and flat, thin cookies. Cut your butter into chunks and, at room temperature, it will soften in about 15 minutes. Creaming butter and sugar until it is light increases its spread. Blending butter and sugar reduces its spread.

Adjusting Ingredients for Perfect Dough

Too much flour makes your cookies dry.

If your dough is dry and crumbly, add 1-2 tablespoons of additional recipe liquid such as water, milk, cream, or juice. You can add softened butter instead, but remember, you're also adding calories. Why did this happen? Improper mixing, mixing too long, too much sugar, too much leavening, or not enough egg. If you add too much liquid, your dough will be too soft.

If dough is too soft, stir 1 or 2 or more tablespoons of flour into the dough. Cookies may spread too much or be too crisp if the dough is too soft. This is especially true when you make drop cookies.

Picking a Cookie Sheet

Different cookie sheets give you different baking results.

Shiny aluminum or stainless steel cookie sheets result in delicate, evenly browned cookies.

Insulated cookie sheets give you cookies that may not brown as much on the bottom and may cause some cookie doughs to spread.

Non-stick cookie sheets make cookies easy to remove but the dark finish may cause your cookies to brown more quickly. Many manufacturers suggest lowering the oven temperature by 25 degrees.

Dark aluminum sheets have an almost black finish that may absorb heat and cause the bottoms of your cookies to brown more quickly. You may have to lower the temperature and bake for a shorter time.

Pre-Bake Preparation

Grease your pans according to directions, but for moist cookies remember to use only a small amount of grease or non-stick spray on the pan. Parchment paper makes your cleanup quicker, and prevents cookies from sticking. Bake on heavily greased pans and your cookies spread more evenly.

Always start baking with your cookie sheets at room temperature. If your cookie sheet is warm, your dough may melt and spread out.

Drop spoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart so they don't run together. If they do anyway and it’s an all-butter dough, try 3 parts butter and 1 part shortening the next time. Use a small ice cream scoop to "drop" your cookies on the sheet so that the cookies bake evenly and in the same shape. High-liquid batter spreads more than stiff dough.

If your cookies are overly flat and thin and you followed all directions, begin your next batch with a cool baking sheet making sure that it’s not over-greased. Too much sugar can also increase spread. As a rule, Baker's Sugar and Powdered Sugar reduce spread; granulated sugar increases spread.

Baking Cookies

If you’re pressed for time, mix ingredients, refrigerate, and bake later when family or friends arrive. What’s more pleasing than the welcome aroma of fresh-baked cookies!

Let cookie sheets cool between batches. Use a clean cookie sheet, or gently wipe the crumbs off the used sheet with paper towels and lightly re-grease it.

For softer, chewier cookies, bake just until they begin to brown.

Increase spread with low oven temperature.

Decrease spread with high oven temperature.

To use more than one cookie sheet at a time, rotate your sheets about half way through the bake. Put the top pan on the bottom rack and the bottom pan on top.

Check cookies at minimum baking time. All ovens are different. An extra minute or two can make a difference between perfectly baked and burnt.

Cooling Cookies

Cool your cookies on the cookie sheet. Place the sheet on a cooling rack for a few minutes to firm them slightly before removing them with a spatula or pancake turner.

If your cooled cookies stick to the cookie sheet, place them into a warm oven for about 30 seconds. For the next batch, either use a clean cookie sheet, or gently wipe the crumbs off the used sheet with paper towels and lightly re-grease it. Then avoid cooling the next batch as long.

Storing Cookies

Keep soft cookies in a container with a tight lid to retain moisture. If they are a little dry, store them in the container while they’re still warm.

Freezing Cookies

Cool your cookies thoroughly before freezing. Store each recipe in a separate freezer container that is labeled with the name and date. Most will freeze well for up to six months. You can store frosted cookies for up to two months, but we suggest you freeze the cookies unfrosted and then frost them just before serving.

C&H Sugar Tips and Tools: Cake Secrets

All-Purpose Flour or Cake Flour?

All-purpose flour produces a dense, moist cake. It’s what most recipes use. But if a recipe specifies cake flour, use cake flour. This will give you a high-rising, fine-textured cake.

Oven Tips

Preheat your oven. There’s no need to preheat it longer than specified. This only adds to your energy bill.

Make sure ovens and shelves are level.

Bake at the correct temperature. To double-check the temperature, use an oven thermometer.

Your oven air circulation must be unrestrained so don’t let pans touch each other. If your pans touch, your cake may rise unevenly.

For a flatter top with creamed batters -– ones that start with beating the sugar and butter together – use steam in the oven if it’s available. This creates a flatter top because steam delays the formation of the top crust.

Don’t open the oven door or disturb the cake until it’s finished rising and is partially browned, or your cake may fall.

Is it Done?

Your cake is done if it’s "springy." When your cake is done, the top will spring back when pressed lightly in the center and slightly shrink away from the sides of the pan. Try inserting a cake tester or wooden toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

Cooling and Retrieving from the Pan

Cool your layer cakes in pans and turn them out onto cooling racks while they’re still slightly warm – about 15 minutes after removing them from the oven. Finish cooling on racks. If you remove them while they’re still hot, your cakes may break.

Sheet cakes should be removed while slightly warm. They are a little more difficult to turn out. Set a cookie sheet on top of your cake, invert it, and then remove the top pan.

Cool your angel food and chiffon cakes upside down in their baking pans. Don’t let the top of the cake touch the rack. Once cool, you can loosen the cake and ease it gently from the pan from the sides using a knife or spatula.

Tips for Cutting a Layer Cake

Cut a four-layer cake with a long, serrated knife. Hold the knife horizontally, put one hand on top of the cake and slowly rotate the cake, cutting into the cake all the way around. Continue to rotate and cut deeper into the layer until you cut through and create two even halves.

You can also use a piece of thread rather than a knife. Hold a long piece of thread between your hands and start from the back. Slowly and evenly pull the thread through to the front.

Tips for Frosting a Two-Layer Cake

Enhance the flavor of your baked goods with icing and frostings. In addition, they are a barrier to moisture and extend freshness.

Cool your layers completely. Brush loose crumbs from the sides. Place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate. Spread frosting evenly over your first layer. Place the other cake layer topside up on the frosted layer, and frost both sides.

Creatively frost the top with the remaining frosting. Create swirls with a spoon or butter knife for an easy and interesting effect. If you want to be more creative, you can learn to make ribbons, flower and leaves, and other accents with a decorating bag using different removable tips. You can also purchase decorations from most supermarkets.

Add artistry by drizzling a complimentary sauce or puree onto a serving plate, then place a slice of cake on top. Serve it like they do in the world’s finest restaurants!

Freezing Cakes

To freeze your cake, frosted or unfrosted, let it completely cool. Unfrosted cakes keep 4 to 6 months; frosted cakes keep 1 to 2 months. Thaw your cakes at room temperature.

Solving Cake Problems

Most often, baking problems result from oven problems. We suggest you first check your oven thermometer to be sure your oven is heating properly.

If your oven is too hot:

If your oven is too cool:

Your cake top can also burst or crack from too much flour, too little liquid, or improper mixing.

If your cake is uneven, you may have mixed the ingredients improperly or spread it unevenly.

If your crust is too dark, you may have used too much sugar.

If your cake texture is coarse, you may not have combined the fat and sugar well enough.

If your cake is too dense or too heavy, you may need more leavening or liquid, or you may have used too much sugar or shortening.

Angel food cakes fall because the egg whites are dry from over beating.

If your cake crust is too light, you may need more sugar.

If your cake crust is soggy, you may have under-baked it, cooled it in pans without proper ventilation, or wrapped it before it completely cooled.

If your cake is crumbly, you may have used too much flour, not enough sugar or shortening, or over-mixed the batter.

If your cake doesn't have good flavor, your formula may be unbalanced, or you may need to check the quality of your ingredients.

Additional Uses for Cake Batter

Turn extra cake batter into cupcakes. Place your cupcake holders in a cupcake pan and fill them one-half to two-thirds full. Then, bake in a pre-heated oven at the same temperature called for in your cake recipe, reducing baking time by a third to a half.

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C&H Sugar Answers Frequently Asked Questions

Does sugar do anything other than sweeten baked goods?
In addition to providing sweetness, sugar adds flavor, bulk, and structure. In cakes without shortening, sugar helps delay egg coagulation and allows a cake to "set" properly. It also retains moisture in baked goods. And as it’s heated above its melting point, it caramelizes and takes on an amber color with a wonderful aroma and flavor.

What is the shelf life of sugar?
Sugar, properly stored, has an indefinite shelf life because it does not support microbial growth. Because Domino harvests its sugar cane year-round, you can expect optimum freshness and flavor at the time of your purchase.

How do I soften brown sugar?
When brown sugar hardens, it loses its natural moisture. Here are some suggestions to restore the moisture and soften the sugar:

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Did You Know?

Did you know...
that sugar plays a bigger role than just sweetening in your baking? Sugar creates the volume in those mile high cakes, the soft texture you love and the golden crust you have come to expect on all you baked good.

Did you know...
meringues can be used not only to top your favorite Lemon Meringue Pie, but also as a crisp cloud to cradle other treats? The amount of sugar and the method used varies depending on the intended purpose of the meringue. Less sugar crease a softer meringue for toppings on cakes and pies, more sugar creates a harder meringue used for piping shapes and making light delicious cups or pie shells.

Did you know...
you can give your double crust pie a beautiful golden glaze by simply brushing the top with milk then sprinkle a light, even coating of Domino granulated sugar before baking.

Did you know...
sugar is the most important ingredient in frostings, providing sweetness, flavor, bulk and structure? Powdered sugar is best to use in uncooked frostings because it blends easier and dissolves faster.

Did you know...
moisture makes granulated sugar hard and lumpy. Always store granulated sugar in a cool dry, place.

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